By James Wong

Anyone sheltering from the cold inside the Box Hill clubrooms at the eastern end of RHL Sparks Reserve didn’t have to worry about missing any action in what was a classic game of two halves in the Dewar Shield semi-final.

There was doubt during the week whether Box Hill would even play this game due to them fielding two unregistered players early in the season. The decision eventually came down in their favour and the Broncos showed no signs of a disrupted preparation as they came out firing in the early exchanges.

Controlling possession and territory, and using their big ball carriers in the middle of the field they were rewarded with two early tries. The first came in the sixth minute and showed the Box Hill forward pack also possess some of the vaunted speed of their backline counterparts. Flanker Sowani Saunitoga scooping up a loose ball at a ruck and scampering 50 metres to open the scoring.

It wasn’t long before the Broncos struck again with centre Filipe Vilitati finishing off a half break by gathering an offload down by his ankles and taking it in for the first of his three tries on the day. A missed conversion left the Broncos with an early 12-0 lead.

Down early, Power House struggled to get anything going in the first half but managed to make the most of their rare trips into opposition territory. A 16^th minute penalty getting them on the score board.

Vilitati showed off his speed next bagging the second of his tries in the 27^th minute when he sliced through the Power House defence from 30 metres out and took it all the way to score. The conversion hit the posts but Box Hill were out to a 17-3 lead before Power House had really started to play much rugby.

With 10 minutes to go in the half, Power House finally started getting into their work.  A break by standout centre Tafinga Sa lead to a try from the next phase to Taiso Silafi-Leeana; bringing the score back to 17-10 going into halftime.

Vilitati crossed for his third shortly after the break. This time displaying a giant right-foot step to easily find the gap from a scrum five metres out. The conversion gave the Broncos a handy 24-10 lead.

Down by fourteen Power House finally started to get things going on attack and dominated the rest of the half. A try to fullback Niau Puaka got the fightback started but Power House squandered multiple scoring chances and still trailed as the game pushed into the final 10 minutes.

A try to Power House brought the score to 24-10 and set up a frantic final few minutes but a timely breakdown turnover by Box Hill reserve Jack Merrillees snuffed out one last Power House attack. A penalty soon after let Box Hill push the score out to 27-20, and ultimately, hold on for the win.

Box Hill will now play in the qualifying final against Melbourne at Ashwood Reserve this Saturday.